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ESTIMATES 



WASHINGTON 




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ALSO, 

Extracts from Florida Newspapers 



CULTIVATION OF THE ORANGE. 





WINTER IN FLORIDA. 

Henry Ward Beecher says : " Letters have just come in from 
Florida. They are picking flowers — there is no cold in their sky — 
the gardens are all asprout, the air is fragrant Avith bursting orange 
buds and new leaves, birds shower the air with delicious notes ! 
Yes, I do love the winter dearly, but had rather take it in Florida." 



Judd & Detweiler, Printers. 



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ESTIMATES. 



Estimate of total cost to plant, and put into growing condition, 
the one hundred acres of Orange Grove for the Washington 
Orange Grove Association, to wit : 

200 acres of choice land @ $15 , $3,000 

6,000 seedling orange trees @ $1 6,000 

Clearing 100 acres @ $20 2,000 

Fencing, plowing, and harrowing @ $9 900 

Transporting and planting trees at @ lOcts 600 

For manures, guano, &c 500 

Total $13,000 

For t l, or ten acres 1,300 

After the first year, the expenses can be reduced by careful 
management on the part of the superintendent. The only 
expenditures will then be for labor and fertilizing manures, 
so as to keep the grove in the highest state of growth and 
cultivation. It will be safe to suppose that during the sixth, 
seventh, and eighth years of the Association the grove will 
produce sufficient fruit to pay for all expenses of care and 
cultivation. 

Those who know the orange only as it appears for sale 
in our Northern markets, picked when green, in order to 
remain undecayed through a long voyage, perhaps to 
be unsold for many weeks after reaching its destination, 
can form little conception of the exquisite flavor, sweetness, 
and juiciness of the orange, when gathered directly from 
the tree, and at its full maturity. Those persons who have 



visited the different orange-producing countries of the globe 
are unanimous in their verdict, that, in quality, the Florida 
orange cannot be surpassed Mrs. Stowesays, in " Palmetto 
Leaves :"' 

" The things that fill the New York market, called by 
courtesy ' oranges ' — pithy, wilted, and sour — have not even 
a suggestion of what those golden balls are that weigh 
down the great, glossy, green branches of yonder tree." 

W. J. PURMAN. 

John A. Macdonald. 



From the report of Hon. D. Eagan, Commissioner of 
Lands and Immigration, State of Florida : 

ORANGE COUNTY. 

This county is bounded on the south by Brevard, on the 
west by Polk, Sumter, and Marion, and on the east and 
north by Volusia county. Concerning its soil and resources 
a correspondent of the Jacksonville Republican of a recent 
date furnishes the following particulars, which we have taken 
pains to verify as correct: 

" This section is now universally recognized as the best in 
Florida for the cultivation of the orange, in view of exemp- 
tion from injurious frosts, accessibility to market, and facili- 
ties of transportation ; the county is more rapidly filling up 
with settlers from the north and west than any in the State, 
and is destined to be the great source of supply for this de- 
licious fruit, which commands now three-fold the price of 
the Havana orange. 

"The population of Orange county is about 3,000, nearly 
all white. The neighborhood is composed mainly of settlers 
from Northern and Southern States, and a hearty and kindly 
welcome is extended to new-comers. Touching its health- 



fulness, Col. B. F. Whitner, a near resident, and an author- 
ity on the subject, in a recent letter to the Cincinnati Com- 
meicial, says : ' People from your country, or any other, can 
move to the healthy portions of Orange county with perfect 
safety, at any season, if they do not contract disease on the 
route. There is no healthier region on the face of the earth 
than the more salubrious portions of Orange county — spring, 
summer, autumn, or winter, and no country can boast of a 
superior climate the year round. * * * It is elevated, 
healthy, and beautiful. Hundreds of deep, pure, clear, 
health-restoring lakes of all sizes, from a few rods to several 
miles in diameter, embellish the scene,'" &c, &c. 



Extracts from Florida Newspapers in Relation to Orange Culture. 



From " Jacksonville Tri- Weekly Union." 

But here in Florida we have the "Mandarin"" quite near, 
if not in perfection. My friend from Messeua said: "You 
have a finer garden for oranges than there is in all Italy. 
You have no more cold; you have all conditions of success 
that the Italians have, and you have all the ingredients 
handy to make just the soil the orange likes. All you want 
to do is to use the same care the Italians do, and your State 
will grow rich in ten years out of its fruits alone." 



From " South Florida Journal." 



I have said that in this country fortunes — princely estates — 
may be realized. Let us see how this is. Suppose not more 
than 1,000 oranges per tree may be counted on. Now, if 
there are even no more than fifty-six trees to the acre, then 



we will have at least 56,000 oranges, or (at two cents apiece, 
which is the price paid for them at the wharf in Mellonville,) 
the sum of $1,120 per acre. But, to he absolutely within 
limits, beyond any doubts whatever, suppose again this sum 
be halved; this gives $560 p er aC re. A grove, then, say of 
five acres, may be relied upon for au income of, at least, $2,- 
800 ; one of ten acres — a very pretty and the usual size — 
for an income of §5,600 per annum. A grove of fifteen 
acres would, of course, pay proportionately more. But if 
attention and cultivation be faithful, the grove of five acres 
will, in all probability, yield yearly $5,600; that often $11,- 
200! And groves thus tended, will bear such crops for a 
century at least, if not longer! Can there be any sounder, 
safer, surer investment in the world ? Include, in addition 
to this, two or three thousand bananas, bearing bunches 
worth usually $1, certainly fifty cents, per bunch, and it is 
easy to see how profits would increase, as both bananas and 
oranges grew older and multiplied. 

The expense of starting a grove is not very great. To 
clear and plant out a place of five acres would cost something 
like this : 

Five acres of land, at from $25 to $100 per 

acre, from $125 to $500 

Grubbing and clearing 250 to 250 

280 trees, three to four years old 280 to 560 

Setting out trees 140 to 210 

One mule 150 to 175 

One cart 50 to 50 

Utensils, say 50 to 75 

Palings, enclosing place 200 to 200 

Provender for mule, 1 year 100 to 100 

This gives a total of from $1,345 to 2,120 

I think the figures may be relied upon. A grove of ten 
or fifteen acres would cost proportionately more to start. A 
plain and neat, but comfortable dwelling and stable, iuclud- 



ing kitchen, &c, may be built for from $800 to $2,000. 
Living here is cheap, notwithstanding good health and tre- 
mendous appetites, and labor may be obtained on reasonable 
terms. 



From "jPalatka Herald.' 1 ' 1 

Hart's grove, just opposite Palatka, has only four hundred 
trees, sweet seedling, occupying four acres, produces an av- 
erage of two thousand per tree, and brought Mr. Hart every 
year from $9,000 to $12,000. But persons planting the seed 
for seedling trees should be careful in selecting the seed from 
seedling and not budded trees, for the latter is not reliable, 
often producing sour oranges. 



From "Jacksonville Union." 

The orange grove at Welaka, belonging to Fenwick & 
Hale, shows conclusively that an investment in an orange 
grove is profitable. Many seem to think it useless to plant 
a grove, believing it requires at least eight years to obtain 
fruit therefrom. 

This is an error. They have trees bearing, three years 
budded, with full crops, and others bearing from two years' 
buds. It has also been demonstrated, by Mrs. Crolly, of this 
city, and by Mr. Hendricks, across the river, that seedlings 
will bear fruit at the age of four years. 

Many persons have held to the opinion that they must go 
at least as far South as Enterprise, New Smyrna, or to Indian 
River, in order to escape frost; but any person who will start 
from Mrs. Mitchell's grove, near this city, and follow up the 
east side of the river, see the groves at Mandarin, Dr. Moore's 
at Julington, estate of Patterson opposite Green Cove 
Springs, the grove at old Picolata, the Orange Mill groves, 
and smaller groves through to Lake George, will be convinced 
that they are a success on the Lower St. Johns. 



From " St. Augustine Examiner.'' 1 

Again, " I am convinced the seedling makes the most 
durable tree, and the most luscious fruit. It is true fruit 
may be had from the budded tree in from two to four years, 
when it requires from four to six for the seedling to bear. 
A grove of seedling trees fifteen years old should average 
1,500 to 2,000 oranges to each tree, and these sell readily 
from one and a half to two cents each, purchaser paying for 
picking and packing. This would give from twenty-two 
and a half to forty dollars per tree per annum. 1 have seen 
trees said to have been one hundred years old that yielded 
annually from 7,000 to 10,000 marketable oranges. Can 
the same space be made to give a greater return in money 
value for the same outlay of capital and labor?" 



From report of the Commissioner of Lands and Immi- 
gration : 

Figs, olives, bananas, plantains, guavas, grow with little 
care. The pine apple requires nursing in Orange, but its 
high rate in the market would more than repay the thrift. 
Chinese tea might be introduced on hammock land and 
would do well. Limes, lemons, shaddocks, grape fruit, 
all the citrus family grow vigorously and without care. 

Orange. — The Florida orange is the finest as well as the 
largest fruit of the orange species. One who has not tasted 
it ripe from its native tree does not properly know the true 
spicy flavor of the fruit. Sweet seedlings cost from 25 cents 
at two year to $2 at five; they can be set out in lake-margin 
muck in the pine forest, for this tree loves a little shade, and 
requires attention when young. At seven years they begin 
to bear; at twelve or thirteen they are in maturity, but go 
on increasing in fruitfulness for a hundred years. Sour 
stocks bought at fifteen cents and budded begin to bear in 
three years. Major Whitner, of Mellon ville, has au orchard 



five years old which yields an income of $1,500 to $2,000 
annually. An acre in bearing yields a net revenue of $1,000 
to $2,000 per annum. Dealers pay at Christmas $2 per box 
of 100, and a tree yields from 1,000 to 2,000; some times 
old trees as high as 10,000. The profit of orange growing 
is easily seen, for the market is iuexhaustible. 

* * # # 

One tree alone is quite a fortune to the simple herdsman, 
bearing as it does 3,000 to 4,000 oranges. The best fruit is 
there. The shaddock attains great size, and the lemons as 
large as pippins. 



From " Occda Banner." 

The Ocala Banner has been informed that "from fifteen 
trees, which have hitherto been prized almost solely as orna- 
ments to his grounds, Rev. James B. Owens estimates his 
crop of oranges this season at thirty thousand, and he has 
already shipped a large quantity to Jacksonville and other 
markets. These trees were grown on open pine land, remote 
from either water or forest protection." 

Mr. J. W. Jeffords, of Clear Water Harbor, formerly a 
resident of this county, has sold his crop of oranges, which 
comprise less than an acre, for $1,500. 

A geutleman living near there tells us that from a single 
tree he gathered 6,500 oranges and from his small grove of 
less than three-quarters of an acre he gathered over 60,000 
last season. 



From "Jacksonville Republican. " 

Large Oranges. — Florida has been prolific in large oranges 
this season. We have noted several specimens in these col- 
umns. On Tuesday some were on sale in a market-boat, 
sent in by Mr. John R. Geiger, from his place, near Manda- 
rin. Many of them measured fifteen inches in circumference, 



weighing one and a quarter pounds. Mr. Geiger has sent a 
line lot of oranges to market, grown on his own place. 

We have received from Mr. J. L. Colee, some of the finest 
specimens of oranges that we have seen anywhere in this 
vicinity. They come from his grove, four miles from Pico- 
lata, on the St. John's. They average twelve inches in cir- 
cumference, the trees only six years old. Mr. Colee has paid 
great attention to the propagation of the orange, and we 
doubt if there can be fouud anywhere in this vicinity a finer 
grove, for its size and the age of the trees. 



From " Jacksonville Republican." 

" Thursday morning opened balmy and delicious, and an 
hour's run of the steamer carried the party to Major Rem- 
bert's orange grove, on Drayton island, at the entrance to 
Lake George, in olden time the property of John C. Calhoun. 

"The party were welcomed with true old-time hospitality 
by the proprietor, who at once gave a cordial invitation to 
all to partake of the tempting golden fruit, which caught 
the eye in every direction. Several varieties of oranges — 
notably the ' Golden Angel' — were pronounced the finest of 
the season, and incapable of being surpassed anywhere. 

"A number of lemon trees, the especial glory of the place, 
were loaded with fruit of wonderful size and beauty, from 
which the Major kindly selected some of the finest specimens 
for the ladies." * * * ■ , * 

" The signs of recent improvements became more frequent, 
and, pleasantly located on a gradual ascent, the homestead 
of Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher was pointed out, with a thrifty 
grove of young orange trees along its front. 



Tropical Fruit Culture. — The Augusta Constitutionalist 
says: " We understand that a company has been formed in 
this city for the cultivation of tropical fruit, and is in treaty 



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for a tract of six hundred and forty acres of land at Biscayne 
Bay, at the southeastern extremity of Florida. This tract 
was a military post during the Florida war, and has now 
growing on it a large number of fruit trees, viz: Banana, 
plantain, cocoanut, orange, lime, lemon, bread fruit, date, 
guava, mango, and others too numerous to mention. 



Among the most prominent persons who have engaged 
in Orange culture in Florida, are: 

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

Rev Charles Beecher. 

Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. 

H. S. Sandford, late Minister to Belgium. 

Gen. Van Valkenburg, of N. Y. 

Ingram Fletcher, Esq., of Indianapolis, Ind. 

Hon. Charles St. John, M. C, of N. Y. 

Dr. Schenek, of Philadelphia. 

A. J. French, Esq., of Wisconsin. 

George W. Wylly, of Savannah, Ga. 

J. G. Morris, of Ohio. 

Win. B. Randolph, Esq., of N. 0. 

Geo. W. Weiser, of Steubenville, Ohio. 

Frederick De Bary, of New York City. 

Aud many others. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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